#36 - Dracula's Daughter (1936)

 

Dracula's Daughter (1936)

(dir. Lambert Hillyer)

The first sequel to the 1931 Universal Dracula, this picks up immediately where the previous film left off. Renfield has been killed by Count Dracula, and Dracula in turn was staked through the heart by Van Helsing. The police happen upon the scene and arrest Van Helsing for murder, who says that you can't murder someone who's been dead for 500 years. He goes with them peacefully but of course the authorities don't believe his story. Instead of a lawyer, he asks for the help of Dr. Garth, a psychiatrist and former colleague. Meanwhile, Countess Marya Zaleska (the titular daughter of Dracula) arrives in London to ensure that her father is truly dead. She is relieved to be free of his influence, but is still cursed with vampirism. She also seeks Dr. Garth's assistance in the hopes of curing the unnatural urges she has for drinking the blood of young beautiful women. The blood drinking totally isn't a metaphor for something else, definitely not.

The "lesbian vampire" trope has been around since the 19th century, but this is the first time that it appeared in a film. Countess Zaleska is never explicitly portrayed as gay, but the subtext is incredibly obvious. There is one scene in particular where she lures a young woman into her home under the pretense of painting a portrait of her bare neck and shoulders, and it's probably the most sexually charged scene I've seen in any film from this era. Of course equating lesbianism with predatory vampirism is not a good look, but it's interesting from a historical perspective.

Apart from that, this is an OK gothic horror film. Like the rest of the Universal films from this period, the production values are high and there is some nice atmosphere involving fog and cobwebs and such, although maybe not as much as I'd like. If you enjoy classic horror movies of this type then you'll probably like this, but it isn't one of my favorites.